Evening Brief – 01.17.24

Women’s Health Investments Up 314%

Despite continued macroeconomic obstacles and a challenging venture fundraising environment, investment in startups addressing women’s health is increasing.

According to a recent report from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a part of First Citizens Bank, investment in women’s health enterprises has climbed 314% since 2018, while total health-care investment has increased by 28%.

The SVB Innovation in Women’s Health Report covers fundraising and investment activity, capital and valuation trends in the sector. The research defines women’s health as healthtech, biopharma, diagnostics/tools, and medical device companies that cater to women’s underserved needs.

This covers conditions that are unique to women, conditions that affect women differently or disproportionately, and conditions with gender-based disparities in care.

Women’s health companies’ valuations, like those of other startups, fell in 2023. According to the research, women’s health companies are often valued lower than healthcare companies overall, with seed stage women’s health companies being valued 20% lower than overall healthcare companies at the seed stage. According to SVB, one possible explanation for the lower valuations is lack of data on women’s health status.

With a 314% rise in women’s health venture capital investment during the past five years, 2023 will be the sector’s top financing year. According to the report, biopharma eclipsed healthtech as the most funded subsector for women’s health in 2023, with an average investment of $182 million per quarter.

The report added that 76% of women’s health companies have a female founder which is three times higher than companies across the overall innovation ecosystem.